Saturday, December 08, 2007

Now that we've been talking about team runs within basketball games, here are a few more from today's men's action...

The opening 12 minutes of the Arizona-Illinois game featured not so much the trading of baskets, as the trading of runs (ESPN.com play-by-play sheet).

The Illini jumped out to a 12-0 lead, only to see an 11-0 Wildcat run tie the game 16-16. Illinois then scored nine straight, to go up 25-16. Eventually, things settled down with Arizona fighting back via smaller runs. Ultimately, the Wildcats prevailed in overtime, 78-72.

The Purdue-Missouri game featured a big run by each team. As described on the BoilerStation blog:

The Tigers couldn't miss during the first 20 minutes and appeared on the verge of running away with this one, leading 44-36. Back came the Boilermakers, using a 16-3 run to take a 60-51 lead with 7:20 remaining.

Then it was Missouri's turn again. Purdue went ice cold from the field, and the Tigers outscored the Boilermakers 22-3 during the final 7:11.